1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«Becker’s Quantity–Quality model (Becker in Demographic and economic change in developed countries, Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp 209–240, 1960; Becker and Lewis in J Polit Econ 81(2): S279–S288, 1973; Becker and Tomes in J Polit Econ 84(4): S143–S162, 1976) suggests a trade-off between family size and parental investments in children. To date, only Cáceras-Delpiano (J Hum Resour 41(4): 738–754, 2006) tests this theory by considering private school enrolment. This study extends this work by using a unique data set containing a broader range of parental investments that are arguably linked to parental intentions for producing higher quality children, such as overall and non-sectarian private school enrolment, the number of computers in the home per child, and saving for the child’s education.» (p. 523)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The YITS [Youth in Transition Survey] contains about 28,000 youth who were 15 years old on December 31, 1999 (i.e. they were born in 1984).»

Instruments :
Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«[F]ertility has been found to reduce parental investments in children, but the balance of the evidence points to no link between fertility and child outputs. The current study adds to this literature by demonstrating no association between fertility and academic test scores. In terms of attempting to reconcile this puzzle, several explanations were offered. First, parental investments in child quality are not necessarily associated with improved child quality. In fact, the best empirical literature (based on credible identification strategies) has not reached a consensus on this issue when looking at cognitive ability (the measure used here). Second, there may be economies of scale associated with rearing more children and/or in selecting effective sibling interactions. Empirical investigation suggests that these factors contribute towards reconciling the findings, but not entirely so. The third possible explanation was raised by (Cáceras-Delpiano 2006), who suggested that larger families may increase maternal contact with the child.» (p. 536)